Bryan Sheehan can’t see Mayo making Super8

Sunday’s defeat to Galway condemned Mayo to a third straight summer traversing the championship backroads and Sheehan is unsure if Stephen Rochford’s charges will survive four rounds of qualifiers.

“If they’re going to make the Super 8s or a semi-final, they’ll be playing week in, week out.

With the age profile they have — Andy Moran, Keith Higgins and all the lads who were their best players on Sunday — can they keep going a couple of weeks on the trot and still have it in their legs at the end of it? I don’t know.

“Are the players that are going to come in going to make an impact? They haven’t so far, and they’re now missing the likes of Lee Keegan and Tom Parsons.

“When you put all that together, you would think that they’d struggle, all the signs would point to it, especially if they got a tough draw away to Cavan or the loser of Tyrone versus Monaghan. It could be a long road for them, it would be tough to see them make the Super 8s, to be honest,” Sheehan wrote in his Paddy Power column.

“They are such a resilient bunch of players and it would be foolish of me to write them off, but I find it difficult to see where they go from here.”

The 2011 All-Star midfielder was disappointed with Galway’s showing at MacHale Park. The jury remains out, he added, on whether or not the Tribesmen can back up their league form.

“Time and time again, we see that the league is one thing and the championship is a different animal again. After their league campaign, I thought they’d kick on from there. They do need to improve. Sunday wasn’t the best of them.”